Somerset, England - The Helicopter Museum (THM) at Weston-super-Mare in Somerset has put three models of the unique Fairey Rotodyne compound helicopter on display complementing the only surviving sections of the actual aircraft that are also part of the collection.

The new models have been transfered to THM from the Imperial War Museum store at Duxford, Cambridge and are on display for the first time in 50 years. One represents an early 1952 proposal for the vertical takeoff airliner and a second represents the final proposed Rotordyne Z of 1960, just before the project was cancelled. The third model represents the prototype as built and flown between 1957 and 1961.

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the projects cancellation, often described as “an idea before its time” and still the subject of much interest by an aerospace industry still looking for a means of inter city travel that does not require airport runways.